Seattle Investment Fund LLC

WHO WE ARE

Welcome to Seattle Investment Fund LLC. We are a limited liability company created by the City of Seattle to help create a robust economy and broadly shared prosperity through investments of New Markets Tax Credits.

Background

The Seattle Investment Fund LLC (SIF) is a limited liability company created by the City of Seattle to bring New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing to economically distressed communities in Seattle. Administered through the City of Seattle's Office of Economic Development (OED), SIF strives to create healthy, vibrant, mixed-income communities that benefit all residents. Since SIF was formed in 2008, the federal Treasury Department has awarded it the authority to use New Markets Tax Credits on $79 million worth of business and real estate investments. This has been used to create more than $240 million of developments that strengthen human capital and commercial and cultural infrastructure in Seattle's low income communities.

Investment Committee

The Seattle City Council authorized the establishment of a five-person Investment Committee to approve SIF's investment decisions, including the approval of all projects using NMTCs. The following members have been appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council:

Barry Blanton, Principal at Blanton Turner, a member of SIF's Advisory Board

Advisory Board

The Seattle City Council authorized the establishment of a seven-person Advisory Board to provide input to SIF and the Investment Committee regarding projects that have applied for NMTC funding and other information in the implementation of the NMTC program. The Advisory Board helps ensure that the SIF maintains accountability to low-income communities that will be served by the NMTC program. The following members have been appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council:

HOW WE INVEST

The federal New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program provides a 39% credit against federal income taxes for business and real estate investments located in low-income areas. The tax credit is claimed over a seven year period and is provided to a tax credit investor in exchange for equity investment in a project. NMTCs can only be distributed by approved community development entities that have obtained tax credits through a national competitive application process with the U.S. Department of Treasury. The City of Seattle's Office of Economic Development (OED) created the Seattle Investment Fund LLC (SIF) to apply for NMTCs which are in turn distributed to private investors who provide equity and low-cost financing for business and real estate projects located in eligible census tracts.

The following are examples of the types of projects financed with NMTCs:

Mixed-use projects with at least 20% of the project revenue coming from non-residential sources

Community facilities

Qualified Projects

Geographic Eligibility

Minimum eligibility: NMTC projects must be located in census tracts meeting minimum criteria set by the federal government regarding poverty and resident income data.

Areas of deeper economic distress: beyond minimum eligibility, SIF will give strong preference to projects located in areas of deeper economic distress regarding poverty, resident income and unemployment data. SIF has made a commitment to the federal government to allocate the bulk of its NMTC allocation in such deeper distress areas.